Day 0: Arrival
We arrived in Hangzhou International Airport on Sunday 7th May and boarded a chartered bus straight to Zhejiang University (ZJU). On our way to the town, I saw rows of beautiful houses which seems to pop out of a Disney movie and made a mental note to pay them a visit some day. After around 45 minutes we reached the town sector of Hangzhou and arrived at Zhejiang University.
Day 2: Project Brief
On Tuesday 9th May, we were introduced to the Theme Mentors and the Teaching Assistants (TAs) who will be guiding us through the projects. Our group mentor is Dr. Li Xiangdong, we did not get to talk with him because he needed to leave campus directly after his presentation. We also met Wynn, Sue and Kitty, our TAs for the project.
Day 3: Exhibition in ZJU
On Wednesday 10th May, we were brought to International Design Institute (IDI) for a tour of the technological and historical exhibition on ZJU. We enjoyed ourselves as we learnt more about our host university.
Day 5: Campus Tour and Hanging out with the TAs
On Friday 12th May, our friendly TAs gave us a tour around ZJU. We took a walk through a park and around the school. The park has a lot of tall trees and greenery which made it very cooling and windy, an ideal route for running enthusiasts. We also came across MySweet cafe, a very pretty and cozy cafe suitable both for a small study group or individuals depending on your preferences.
After the campus tour, we cabbed to Inlink City, a mall near ZJU. The mall here looks very much like Singapore’s mall (how different can a mall be?). We went to eat at “Lu Cha” to have a taste of real Chinese food. It was an early dinner but my stomach is always prepared for nice food. The highlight for the dishes was the chicken and pork belly roasted with special herbs. One serving was not enough that we had to order one more plate to satisfy our palates.
We ended the day with a Karaoke session and return to the hostel to rest. We were all tired but it was a good bonding session!
Day 6: Buddy Day at National Tea Museum
On Saturday 14th May, the ALP batch was split into 12 different groups each led by a few ZJU buddies. My group went to the China National Tea Museum to get to know more about the China’s tea culture.
Our buddy was very friendly and accommodating. She takes Tea Science Course in ZJU and brought us tea leaves specially grown by herself. ZJU has a plot of land on the mountains reserved specially for them to grow their own tea leaves.
We learned a lot about Chinese Tea, its history, production methods as well as the practice of drinking Chinese Tea.
After the trip, some of us decided to stop by Xihu Lake to enjoy the scenery and walk around the beautiful park in Xi Hu.
It was another great day in Hangzhou!
Overall, the first week in China has been a great experience and we had a lot of fun. That is all for this week, see you guys for the next entry!
